New Jacobin Magazine out… jacobinmag.com. I really like this magazine… its an outlet with a perspective that I agree with… I’ve excerpted a few key points below.

I like this sentence in regards to this past year’s protests:

The growth of precarious labor, the structuring of youth as a vehicle of debt, and massive proletarianization have pushed the imaginary onto the level of reality.

The Need for New Language:

But real debates, the clash of ideas, beyond just rosy, impressionistic reports from the front, are required now more than ever. Jacobin has managed to find writers outside the Washington Post’s op-ed circuit. And here’s the result, an outstanding issue – largely the product of precariously employed twentysomethings. Most of whom have never even seen a print copy of the New York Review of Books. The scene a few blocks away from that esteemed office offers inspiration enough — students and workers actively engaged in class struggle. Well, the majority of the protesters wouldn’t immediately embrace a term like “class struggle.” It strikes an arcane note, at which those weary of the radical left’s sectarianism and general insanity instinctively recoil. Yet this is language that needs to be reclaimed and confidently articulated. It’s political language that might have seemed out of place during decades of dormancy, but that will be increasingly relevant in the period to come.

Stop Production:

At the center of Burns’ story is what he calls “the traditional strike,” which was the heart of trade union activity from the beginnings of labor history until its virtual disappearance after the 1970s. The crucial characteristic of the traditional strike — its sole reason for being — is that it forces capital to stop production. Although this fact may seem slightly obvious, its significance for both workers and radicals has been largely forgotten.

A question came up concerning the general idea that video games are being stifled from reaching their highest potential: “How does one change an industry (video game) that is forced to cater to consumers who want so little?” I decided to have fun and replied. The basis of what I was trying to get at was the willful conformity, often to regimes that go against one’s own interests, that see I individuals pursuing in order to maintain or gain an illusory sense of emotional or intellectual well being contrary to the material aspects of their reality. This required loose subjectivity which essentially prevents one from adhering to something (or anything for that matter) then gets translated into an increasingly dominate passivity in regards to the acceptance of the existence, promotion, and the increasing prevalence of empty art (i.e. “everything’s already been done, what’s the point of striving for something new” and “artists have to make money! whaaa, whaaa!”). Which is what it is; but, when you’re ready to talk about the root issues related to all of this nonsense then I’ll listen.

I Can’t Get No! (Mediated) Satisfaction!

Why do you feel that you have a right to change the industry in the first place? Or change anything for that matter? The only thing you can change is yourself- so learn to enjoy killing those 1000s of AI enemies… It’s a process called socialization. You change and conform to your social environment; not the other way around.

That’s the problem with the OWS protesters… They’re refusing to conform and submit to the social environment in which they were born and as a result they’re facing general discontentment and adverse reactions from the larger population; all of which come from their choice not to become socialized.

Could video games offer more? (Think of Marv Albert) Yes. Could visual art, music, theater, literature, and film actually become interesting again? Maybe; but, not with the smelly, ugly beast known as capitalism sitting in the room, taking up all of the space, breathing in all of the air, and generally stinking up everything.

Anymore its seems that within this country people want to maintain and hide the ways in which they are privileged and rail against all the ways in which they are discriminated against. The thing is that we are all privileged in different ways and we are all employed as full time privilege hiders and convenient deniers. Likewise, we are all railing against the same different things simultaneously. Its exhausting and ends up producing things like fast fashion, Justin Timerlake(s), and social media.

OCCUPY EVERYTHING. That’s what a woman said while giving a speech to a crowd standing in Washington Square park in NYC. The crowd assembled there for the first time last weekend to hold a General Assembly and to possibly set up another encampment. I was there. Zuccotti Park, the sight of the original encampment, had become overcrowded and they needed new space.

Its been a week since then and Occupy Wall Street is beginning to branch out into other parts of the city. Smaller Occupy Wall Street Solidarity encampments have also been set up in cities and towns across the nation…

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All I Want for Christmas is the Death of Neoliberalism

Its hard to say what other encampments are like; I can only speak for NYC and Philadelphia as they are they only ones I’ve visited and participated in…

NYC is focused and uncompromising and they keep bringing to light NEOLIBERALISM and ECONOMIC INEQUALITY time and again and I can’t do anything other than offer support. You can’t hit the nail on the head any more squarely. This country suffers from cultural hegemony rooted in neoliberlism which results in ridiculously staggering economic inequality which is then used as leverage by the powerful few to write the rules to ensure that the current social, economic, and political relations are reproduced in their favor.

In some ways, I think Occupy Philadelphia is rooted in the same beliefs and goals as the Occupy Wall Street movement but at the same time it wants to assert its own identity.

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What’s in a Name? Liberal, Left Out

The funny and telling thing about these occupation movements are their avoidance of the terms “Left” or “Liberal”. Because that’s essentially what this is all about. The values being promoted by these movements are essentially rooted in Liberal thought and none of them are particularly new. In this country, the Right has been so strong in dominating the national discourse, especially through the Reagan 80’s and the 90’s cultural wars, that to have anything to do with being Left or Liberal became a liability that few wanted to possess. This movement marks the first time in a long time that Left / Liberal values are being promoted forcefully and unabashedly-even if those terms are not being used.

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Again, Always Historize or Don’t

They last thing I wanted to point out was the Media’s ahistorical account of Occupy Wall Street and this past Saturday’s, 15 Oct 2011, global day of action. In short, the media keeps presenting Occupy Wall Street as a precursor to similar Occupation and Protest actions taking place around the world, in Europe and the Middle East particularly. FOR THE RECORD, the reverse is true. Occupy Wall Street was influenced by events outside of the United States. Europe and the Middle East felt pain from and responded to the tyrannical global economic system first. The tactics (occupations), targets (financial capital), effects (precariousness, lifetime student loan debt entrapment), etc… were all used and highlighted outside of the United States before they migrated here. Between Philadelphia and NYC, I’ve heard many protesters themselves make the claim that the Occupy Wall Street movement was spreading overseas. Wake up people. Gain a broader view of this picture- its needed in order for this movement to have any success.